Quality of Donations

ScoobieGirl

It there anyone who can advise on the kind of quality of donations that are useful to charities in this day and age. Am I deluding myself that my mugs, Friends posters and dubious 80's pop music on cassette is wanted by a charity in 2006?

What is often donated that goes straight in the bin, and what is often binned that would be wanted?

Contains_Mild_Peril

I heard someone from Oxfam quoted on the radio as saying that she and a colleague sorted donations for 5 hours and found only about £30 worth of saleable goods, and that this was typical. I find that hard to believe. I think they're just too snobby.
I've also seen perfectly good books thrown out with the rubbish when the charity shops didn't even try reducing the price first - I sold a number of them (after asking the shop if I could have them for a small donation) at a car boot sale for 20p each. To my mind, throwing stuff out without first making a reasonable effort to sell it is a gross insult to those kind enough to donate their unwanted goods (or even wanted goods that they just don't have enough room for). I avoid donating to charity shops I've seen doing this.
Since there are 10 charity shops in my town to choose from, I tend to give stuff to whichever one I think would be most likely to sell it successfully. For instance, my local Red Cross shop seems to sell plenty of music cassettes for 40p each, so I'd take any I didn't want there. If you have mugs or other kitchenware and none of the charity shops near you seem to sell much of that sort of thing, you could find out if there's a furniture project which also accepts bric-a-brac to give directly to those in need. If all else fails, give your stuff away on https://www.freecycle.org , where almost any old "junk" can find a new home.

ScoobieGirl

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

I heard someone from Oxfam quoted on the radio as saying that she and a colleague sorted donations for 5 hours and found only about £30 worth of saleable goods, and that this was typical. I find that hard to believe.

Oxfam have gone down even futher in my estimation than before. I cancelled my DD when I found out how much of my donation was going on admin. I'm sure you are right they must be too fussy.

I hadn't thought of picking the recipient as you suggested. What a brilliantly simple idea!

I think the Freecyclers in my area mush be more fussy than usual as I've tried to get rid of good quality armchairs and an okay desk before with no takers

lamb7994

I work for a charity running charity shops for them.
The thing we bin and sell:

If you're donating china and glasses make sure it isn't chipped because if it is it will be binned.
Any clothes and textiles no holes by moths or anyother holes. Any stainss as they will be ragged.
Check with the shop before donating Electrical as these have got to be safety tested before selling.

If you live in a particular student area plates and general kitchen stuff normally sells well.
Most charity shops don't sell knoves for obvious reasons.

If you donate toys they need to have the CE logo on them otherwise by law we cannot sell them.Toys ned to be clean and no damdage to them.


Cd's records sell well and always DVD fly out the shop.

Tapes vary shop to shop some will sell them some won't.

I don't sugest donating Dentures as they get binned but we do have a laugh about it.

If you're donating jigsaw puzzels and games they need to be complete and it helps the sorter if you write on a piece of paper or masking tape that they're complete.

Generally charity shops don't sell used socks or knickers.


What was said about oxfam and only £30 in 5 hours sorting it can be true some days we find barely any stock out of our deliveries from stock collectors and public donations but then other days we find lots.

It does cost charities alot to dispose of the rubbish but just think when donating would you buy it from the charity shop in the condition it's being donated in?

We're not "too snobby" as we can only put stock which is complete and in good condition for various reasons the fact people don't want dirty clothes and broken china and bric a brac.


Please remeber every charity varies but i am answering the question using the way we work for the chairty i work for.


If you want any specific questions answered please feel free to pm me or to reply to this post.



James

ScoobieGirl

lamb7994 wrote:

We're not "too snobby" as we can only put stock which is complete and in good condition for various reasons the fact people don't want dirty clothes and broken china and bric a brac.

Very understandably! I'm amazed that people would donate something broken, chipped or dirty.

Thank's for the detailed breakdown.

Contains_Mild_Peril

While I wouldn't expect modern bog-standard china to be put on the shelves if it's damaged, a blanket policy of binning absolutely any chipped items disturbs me. Vintage collectable pieces are often worth about half as much slightly damaged as an identical perfect piece.
Dirty clothes are a difficult one: I know that one smelly item on a rail could deter customers from buying any, but does that mean that any "dry clean only" items are likely to be binned unless the donor has gone to the considerable expense of having the item cleaned just to give it away?
I've had a few 50p bargains with faint stains which haven't quite come out in the wash, but they've come up nice and clean after a soak in Oxy. The posh suit I wore to my cousin's wedding was actually very expensive for a not-quite-clean item: £12.50! It had been worn and wasn't especially dirty but you could see it hadn't been cleaned afterwards, and since it was labelled "dry clean only", the shop staff hadn't put it the wash, which I think they routinely do with stuff labelled as machine-washable, mostly just to eliminate any stale odours. Anyway, like most "dry clean only" garments, my suit happily tolerated gentle hand washing, and it looked great, so I'm glad I had the opportunity to buy it.

If you donate toys they need to have the CE logo on them otherwise by law we cannot sell them.

If that's the case, I hope this will be corrected next time the rules are rewritten. There is nothing wrong with toys predating the modern CE mark (which didn't come into force till the late 1980s if I recall correctly) which carry British Standard marks. In any case, I thought that vintage toys which may not comply with modern safety standards can still be sold as collectors' items for adults only? I'm pretty sure that was the case when I volunteered in a charity shop, but that was a while ago.

lamb7994

Mild Peril i was only giving a quick explanation of course Vintage and collectabe toys are a different case and they're dealt with differently.

Also collectable china is not binned unless it is very damaged i.e cracked. but if it has chips in it it willl be kept.

If clothes are Dry cleaning only and are expansive makes or stylish which we can get more for we often get them dry cleaned as a dry cleaner near our shop does a good deal with us.

But remember i was only giving a quick breakdown and not going through everything we do if i was i'd be here all day.

Thanks

James

lil_me

I would also suggest that local jumble sales, table top sales and fun days, if your local shop is too snobby or you are oncerned it'll just end up binned, will accept most things. The likes of guides, brownies, cubs, scouts, small charities, schools etc do these from time to time.

krisskross

We have just moved and found a few things we had no further use for.

One item was a never used indoor TV aerial still in the box. My husband took it and a few other things into a local charity shop where he was told no they didn't want it. In the shop at the time was a chap looking for an aerial and the assistant heard him asking my husband about it. Instead of taking it and selling it to the chap, the assistant stood by while my husband gave it to him. I think the chap felt a bit guilty as he put something in the donation box.

tom31

Hey Everyone,

I'm a regular volunteer at my local Save The Children store.
I'm one of many volunteers. Not one member of staff (including the manager) recieve any kind of payment for there services.

As has been said, toys without a CE mark on arent accepted.

Childrens shoes arent accepted at my store.

We also dont accept childrens clothes that are designed for ages 8-9 + because they dont sell.

We dont sell any scuffed shoes because they dont sell either.

We try to sell most books but we keep a record of how long they have been on the shelf and sometimes, no matter how much we hate it, we have to bin them.

Charity shops are there to make a profit to aid charity, we ARENT a general rubbish tip, dont bother donating goods that you wouldnt buy yourself if you walked in.

We also dont accept any cosmetics that have had the silver foil seal removed.

We accept knives as part of a cutlery set but sel them to over 16's only.

Puzzles and jigsaws take ages to check and therefore it helps if you can check them yourself and write "complete" and a date on it.

We dont accept any electrical items that plug in, e.g kettles, toasters, chargers because we cant test them. Any decent electrical item will get sent to the local furniture exchange for low income families.

High value jewelery is of the most use to us, we have a special cabinet for it and it sells VERY well.

We also like Compact Disc games such as, PS2, X box etc.

DVD's are very welcome and so are most tapes but some really dont sell very well.

Childrens toys MUST look new and in good condition.

All teddy bears and cuddly toys MUST also display the CE sign.

We also dont accept safety items such as Cycle Helmets, Knee Pads etc as we cannot promise they provide adaquate protection.

Other than that, just use your common sense, what people wont buy, dont donate.

BUT we also have a special box for old mobile phone and ink cartridges.

Thanks.
Tom.

krisskross

I worked for a while as a volunteer in a charity shop. Had to stop as I always left feeling itchy and filthy. I had no idea that some people take black sacks full of unwashed smelly clothes, yes even underwear and think a charity shop has a use for them. RUBBISH goes to the tip not to a charity shop.